Help asked in tracing stabbing suspect, witnesses

San Diego  Police investigators have turned to the public for help identifying witnesses and the suspect in a stabbing during a New Year’s celebration at the W Hotel in downtown San Diego.

They especially want to find one witness, a woman possibly named Sarah who said she was a law school graduate attending Cal Poly University.

Shortly after midnight on Jan. 1, the victim, a 28-year-old man, was stabbed in an apparently unprovoked attack at the bar inside the hotel on West B Street. People were pushing and shoving at the bar, the victim told San Diego police detectives.

The victim watched the suspect, a white man possibly in his mid-20s, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with short blond hair, and wearing a black, collared shirt, walk away with two or three other white men.

Police said the victim took a cab to a hospital, where he was admitted with a collapsed lung and punctured spleen. He has since been released from the hospital and is recovering from his wounds.

He told investigators that before being stabbed, he was talking to a woman who may have seen the suspect. She was white, age 29, 5 feet 3 inches tall, and wore a sparkly dress. She told him she attended Cal Poly University, but police did not specify whether she meant the Pomona or San Luis Obispo campus.

Police asked that Sarah come forward and call Detective Frank Bradley at (619) 744-9500. Tipsters may call Bradley or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest.